


Who Am I You May Well Ask

by Darlena



Category: Hardcore Henry (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Brainwashed, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Deaf Clint Barton, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Other, Past Brainwashing, Past Character Death, Protective Bucky Barnes, Rare Characters, Rare Fandoms, Sign Language, Violence, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, bi until proven straight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-02 17:14:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darlena/pseuds/Darlena
Summary: Henry sits where the chopper landed. There he sits, and sits, and sits. He should move and go... somewhere?Everyone he knows is dead, he killed them.Why isn't he dead?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea that popped into my head while watching Hardcore Henry and bemoaning its small fanbase, bear with me please because I don't really have anything planned out.

Henry’s eye is loose, probably from pulling it out to strangle Akan. Why would he do that? To show off to Estelle? It doesn’t matter anyways does it? He never had her to begin with. Why is he alive? After getting Jimmy killed, and killing his wif- ( _ no, not his wife, never his wife _ ) Estelle, the woman who stole his heart and crushed it. 

Estelle was everything he’d ever known. He looks down at his hands-  _ so much blood _ , on his left hand the cheap brass band he’d been  _ bestowed _ , and rolling gently in his right hand Estelle’s elegant ( _ real diamond _ ) marriage ring.

Waking up to her smile, her joy at seeing him functional, escaping from Akan. Her fear had seemed so realistic, everything about her had. Sacrificing himself to save her, how could he have been so stupid? He’d loved her and she threw it back into his face, smiling and holding onto Akan like he was the only one that mattered in life. Henry killed her. Chopping her fingers off at the knuckles, the ring he held now just barely being saved  from a long fall. 

He ought to feel glad it’s over, justified in killing the bitch who’d been  _ training  _ him and thousands of others to love her and listen to her every command. He thinks he ought to feel joy at finally destroying the monster who’d been behind all of this madness, joy for the simple fact he could rest. Maybe he should be crying with relief or pain from all of his injuries. 

Sorrow for Jimmy, fighting so hard to get to that monster and yet falling short. Disappointment in how he couldn’t remember his real past, not that he had been trying hard with all the sitting there contemplating his present he’d been doing. Really all henry wants to do, wants to feel, is nothing. He wants to sit there until the implant that pumps his heart loses charge. 

 

_ “You. Little. Pussy.”  _

 

He knows what he is, he doesn’t care. Why should he? He doesn’t even know if Henry was his real name. 

He’s just one big bloody mess, dripping, dripping from his hands. His sweat slicked hair, running down his face and mingling with that gelatin like blood running from his eye. Doesn’t want to think about the state his chest is in, gaping and horrid from when he ripped open the cavity to replace that horrible pump behind his heart.

He wants to rip it out suddenly, but the irrational thought leaves him quickly replaced by other less important decisions.

He remembers there was a pilot in the chopper, did he kill them? They, he remembers, was a she. Brown hair, tucked up under her helmet. She didn’t know he was there, dimly remembering her surprise, quickly changing to fear as she backed away from the door she’d just opened. Rambling on about how she had a family, don’t hurt her, she wouldn’t tell anyone anything, she would be quiet she promised- He hadn’t even looked up from the fingers on the floor, eventually she turned and ran.

He was perhaps relieved he wouldn’t have to take another life. More blood. More death. There was perhaps only one death that wouldn’t bother him, but he didn’t want to think about it, so he sat there instead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry has thoughts, a lot of them about fingers.

How long he sits there he doesn’t know. His vision seems to short out at random times and sometimes he thinks he sees light, but that tends to happen to him, he’s fine. He thinks he feels floaty, almost cold. What did that video of younger Jimmy say? He’d cut out all speech and sensory input? If that’s true, why does he feel like this? 

Henry doesn’t want to think about this and into a pool of cold his thoughts slide. Slowly another thought occurs.  _ Could he shut himself down? _ Force himself to shut his own brain down, the same way Jimmy shut his avatars down? Does it matter?

No, he supposed it didn’t.

 

_ Quiet, no thoughts, shut down… _

 

There is a person, Henry hears footsteps. He doesn’t care. If Akan’s people are coming for him he will kill them, or die fighting. Maybe his heart pump is almost out of battery and he will die.

The person is walking slowly up metal grate stairs, deliberately loud.  _ They  _ certainly know someone is up here. _ It doesn’t matter. _ Henry wants to slip back down, into his cold pool of thoughtlessness, so slowly he relaxes his body. 

Waits for tabula rasa on his thoughts. 

….

Whoever that person is, they’ve got a lot of weight on them. That’s all he wants to think about that.

He doesn’t have enough weight to be able to move those solid and sure steps.

…. 

Henry almost doesn’t hear the quiet voice in front of him. Soft voice but Henry couldn't tell you if they spoke any words. He concentrates on Estelle’s ring, rubbing the dried blood off of the ring, watching the dried flakes fall off of the metal and onto the skin of his hand.

The voice speaks again, closer this time, but Henry doesn’t want to think in words. The voice is persistent, slipping into a different cadence. If he were to care he’d say the voice switched languages. Maybe if he were to close his eyes they would leave.

Henry closes his eyes.

The voice does not go away.

The voice wants Henry to respond, but he doesn’t want to, couldn’t even if he did. No voice programed into him, no voice to ask questions, Henry thinks with a tired sigh. 

Henry opens his eyes again, the person is right outside of the chopper door. Estelle’s fingers between him and them bloody and grey. 

A boot enters his field of vision, stepping into the helicopter and right onto Estell’s remains. The quiet crunching forces Henry into movement,  _ move the boot, get off of her, ESTELLE!  _

Rushing the boots has the desired effect of getting them off of the- _ broken, no longer beautiful _ \- fingers. 

Estelle, not the Estelle that tricked him but the one who had loved him, his Estelle. The wife who was never his wife. The woman who he’d killed. Her fingers lay on the ground of the chopper, no corpse to claim them. Henry reached slow and clumsy fingers to gather them together. He doesn’t know which finger is her ring finger so he can’t return her ring. _ How could he not keep track of what finger was which? _ Should he try to fit the ring onto each finger to try and get the one that fits? He looks down at the eight fingers in his palms and wonders what he is doing. 

Absently he notes the voice has started up again, not that it matters right now. He doesn’t know where to put Estelle’s fingers. Her fingers should have something to be near, they shouldn’t just sit on the cold ground, alone, like he is.

He remembers there is another person he killed on board, it would be perfect. After all they loved each other.

He half crawls to the back of the copter to where the half head is, looking over the white hair into those dead, dead eyes-  _ dead as the rest of him just like I promised Jimmy _ . Akan never deserved her, he thinks, but then again, the way she acted after giving up her ruse… Maybe they deserved each other more than he could ever know, they seemed so happy, in a twisted grotesque way.

He lays the fingers down in a neat pile, next to Akan’s head and moves back to regard them. Together in life and together in death, he supposes that sounds right.

The boots are stepping back into the chopper. Henry doesn’t want to move, but he also doesn’t want to be near Akan, not even if it means being near Estelle. He turns away from the gruesome display and starts slowly moving to the farthest corner, away from the stench of death that must be in the air. 

Making his way past the boots slowly, Henry decides if they want to kill him he doesn’t care. He feels a hand touch his shoulder, light as it is, it still startles him and before he can think he’s batting it away with his fake hand. The metal of his prosthetic rings a bright tone against the other’s arm. Surprised out of his thoughts he looks up, following the metal fingers to a metal forearm and up to a metal shoulder, past that to a face framed with long brown hair, tied in a ponytail, lips moving. 

“-e’s non-responsive, Steve, I’m not sure he is even fully aware I’m here. He only reacted once I stepped into the copter, and that was to get me off of severed fingers.”

The man stops talking, noticing Henry looking at him. The man with the obnoxious metal arm  _ (really, does that thing have sculpted muscles??) _ leans over him and the metal arm starts rubbing what is supposed to be a soothing circle into Henry’s back. 

“Hey bud, you with me now?” He speaks softly. 

Henry doesn’t know how to respond so he simply stares at the new man. Taking in a person who hasn’t been bathed in blood like he has. Henry looks down at his dirtied and crumpled stolen jacket. Ripped and burned, bloodied almost as badly as the shoes Jimmy gave to him. 

He can’t stand it, all the blood. The tacky, itchy feeling of drying blood. His hands move on their own accord to fumble the zipper, he takes the jacket off with almost panicked movements, next to go his shoes. 

His fingers make it to the waistband of his pants when the stranger grabs his hands, “Woah! Hey there pal, calm down. You’re okay, whatever happened here is over now.”

Henry’s heavy breathing is the only sound for a beat or two, then slowly he rolls off of his knees and onto his butt. The man moves with him, the hand back on his shoulder, rubbing small circles all the while speaking a steady stream of nonsense. The man is trying to keep him calm, Henry knows, but he doesn’t know if it’s working or not. He feels shaken, but more alert. Aware of more than just the death that has happened this past day. 

The man is humming, some lilting melody that Henry doesn’t recognise. Maybe he should lay down, close his eyes for a bit. Maybe he will stop shaking, maybe he will stop remembering. 

_ All the blood. _

_ All the death. _

His breath catches. Henry wants to lay down, so he does.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing the Star-Spangled Man With a Plan.  
> The plan?  
> Uhhhh...

The man doesn’t stop humming until someone else approaches, still rubbing circles into Henry’s back. They stay far enough back that Henry doesn’t feel the need to move away. That’s good, Henry is comfortable laying on his side, head almost buried in his arms. He thinks he might’ve stopped shaking for a while too.

The new person asks a question but Henry doesn’t hear what it was. The metal man replies with, “I don’t think he’s going to attack me. I don’t think he’s going to attack anyone right now. I mean, look at him Steve. He’s in fetal position.”

‘Steve’ is quiet for a bit, then slowly he starts to walk towards the two men. He slowly sits in the doorway of the copter.

“Hello? Sir? Uh, I’ve brought you a blanket, it’s mighty cold out here this morning. May I put it on you? I’m Steve...”

He continues on talking and it occurs to Henry that both this Steve and metal man have very soft voices, at least when talking to him. Something inside him thinks vaguely about feral animals and keeping him from getting violent. It somehow makes sense though he doesn’t understand how these two things are related.

A very soft warm blanket is laid over the top of him and one of his hands idly rub it between his fingers. He looks up at Steve and then to Metal Man confused, who are they and what do they want? Why are they being so nice to him? The last people to be nice to him were using him for their own benefit.

Estelle, Jimmy, though Jimmy hadn’t ever really been nice to him, just helpful in keeping him alive. Robby had seemed nice, Estelle had called him the sorcerer of sound. He’d died so quickly, Henry wished he could’ve had time to have a conversation with him. Robby acted like  he knew Henry, the Henry from before waking up in a lab unable to talk or remember anything. He didn’t get to interact with his coworker Timothy, but he seemed nice too, he didn’t deserve the death Akan gave him. Henry doesn’t think anyone did.

“It’s to keep your body temperature up,” The metal man told him, “It’s pretty cold this morning and we don’t want you to slip into shock. Plus, its super fluffy and blue is a nice color.” He smiled at Henry.

Henry thinks that it body temperature doesn’t matter much anymore because most of his human parts aren’t human anymore, but he doesn’t know how to tell them that. His head still feels floaty and slow and he really doesn’t want to think about it.

“Can you stand?” Steve startles him with the question. “We need to move out of the area, its no longer safe. If you can’t stand-Bucky or I can carry you, but we need to move now.”

Metal man-  _ Bucky? _ -leans forward, looking more than a little alarmed and says, “We’re getting reports of Hydra movement in the area. They are heading this way, we need to go now.”

They both stand up and M- Bucky leans over to help Henry to stand. Henry’s body is fully operational-  _ Ha! more like a big sloppy mess of shredded skin and metal _ \- so he stands easily, even without Bucky’s help. Steve hisses through his teeth when he takes in the open cavity of his chest for the first time.

“When we get out of here, you’re going straight to medical.” Steve says, his tone leaving no room for protests. Not that there is any, Henry couldn’t find it in himself to care about it and Bucky looked as if he was fully behind Steve’s plan.

Henry looked between the two men and watched as they made a quick check of their ammo, Bucky offering Henry a gun and a knife. Reluctantly, Henry took them both, tucking the gun into the waistband of his pants, opting to hold the knife in his hand.

Jumping out of the copter door, Henry allowed himself one last glance into the darkness where the body parts lay. Took a deep breath, turned his back and followed the two men off of the helipad.

He hopes these people are good, he doesn’t think he can take anymore lies.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet another blonde...

At least it wasn’t another helicopter, is Henry’s first thought. The mini aircraft wasn’t landed too far away, only a couple of rooftops away. Makes him wonder in a dazed and foggy thought why he didn’t hear any engine noise when it landed.

 

He glances around as the man Steve climbs into the mini jet, waiting for the dangerous people he’d been warned about to spring out. If the last day had taught Henry anything, it’s that they could come from anywhere. Maybe from behind the air vents? Or climbing up the building edge.

 

He had to check, make sure that they were safe there. He couldn’t be snuck up on again, or it’d be more lives that he could have saved. All those people who died… they died because Henry had been near him when Akan had sent the next army after him.

 

Moving to the edge of the building, he peaks over the side, quick enough that if someone were there, he wouldn’t be noticed. No one was there. 

That didn’t mean they were safe, no way. They come every time he let his guard down, and this time he isn’t going to relax. If people are after him, (again) he can show them just how much he’s learned in a day. He’s ready for a fight.

 

He’s making checks on the roof when a light touch on his arm startles him. His arm throws off his attacker, the hand with the knife swinging where the neck (or at least the shoulder) should be, only to realize who he was swinging at. Bucky deflects the knife with his forearm and grabs hold of Henry’s wrist, using his momentum to spin him around and pull his arm into his chest effectively holding down his movements. Henry knows Bucky doesn’t want to hurt him. (At least, he thinks he knows Bucky doesn’t want to hurt him, you can never be too sure.) But it’s still hard for him not to start trying to fight off the hold. 

 

“-ey! C’mon snap out of it pal, Hey!” 

 

Henry hears Bucky talking into his ear and slows down his movements. Unsure of what’s going on.

Henry looks around confused before realizing he had zoned out again, his hands tingly and cold.

 

He looks up at Bucky's face to see if he is angry with Henry for losing track of time. He knows that Jimmy would have been yelling at him right now more than likely even hitting him, and he knows that he would have deserved every second of it. All of this was his fault, every death, every tear, every drop of blood- 

 

Bucky is shaking him again, saying that they need to get going. Their enemies, this HYDRA are coming and they don’t want to get the transportation vehicle caught in the gunfire that would erupt between them. 

 

Henry obediently turns to follow Bucky into what they have been calling the Quinjet. He doesn’t want to cause a scene, especially after everything that’s happened since he woke up. Maybe he just wants sleep, or at least to pretend to be asleep. He doesn’t know if he can actually fall asleep with the way his body is now.

 

He climbs in and fumbles with the seatbelt until Bucky helps him figure out which way the three straps go, crossing twice over his chest and over his lap once. After giving a quick look over to his left and seeing the blonde man Steve sitting there he turns his head over to his right watching Bucky sit and buckle up as well.

 

Almost immediately they’re up in the air. The noise, or lack of it unsettles Henry, This isn’t how a helicopter sounds, or a plane, this isn’t how any aircraft should be sounding in this day and age. At least,  Henry didn’t think so. 

 

He supposes it’s easier to sneak up on unsuspecting people when the aircraft is almost as silent as a Prius. Poor unsuspecting people hiding in giant helicopters with only fingers and decapitated heads for company.

 

People really deserve more of a warning and just a quiet aircraft.

What if they weren’t paying attention? What if they were thinking about their current situation? Like maybe, the fact that they found themselves loveless and their hearts kicked out onto the metaphorical Street.

 

Maybe in that instance they deserve a little bit more warning, and not to be scared to death. That’s all he’s saying.

 

The pilot is talking to Steve. Steve is standing at the front of the jet. _ When did that happen? _  He’s a darker blonde than Steve is and definitely less muscular than him too. 

_ Is there such a thing as more muscular than Steve? Bigger definitely but muscle to body ratio, probably not.  _

 

The pilot’s hair is short and spiky, definitely some sort of military or paramilitary, calm and in control of the aircraft as he guides them away from the city. Henry doesn’t want to listen to what they are talking about, words are tiring and lies are too easy to believe. 

He still hears a few words here and there.

 

 “... fifteen minutes….  Steve…. not able to… he’s staring at us…look…. turns out to be some…. blaming you if he… Natasha will have to come and… know how she gets…. cleaning up other people’s messes…” 

 

Henry looked down at his hands, determined to not listen to the words, not to think about what they might mean. He heard the quiet breathing of Bucky beside him and decided not to hear that too.

The low hum of the aircraft was easier to ignore, only feeling the slight vibrations through the metal in his body.

 

Henry studied the dry blood on his hands, and realizes he is still holding the knife Bucky gave to him, the gun digging in at his waistband. He looks back to his right where he knows that Bucky is sitting and puts his hand out to him palm down. 

 

Bucky looks surprised for a moment, but his face quickly dissolves into a smile as he looks down and sees Henry’s outstretched hand with the knife. He takes it from Henry and his mouth starts to move, but Henry doesn’t hear a sound. Bucky is given the gun as well and with nothing left to do Henry stares. 

 

Looking at the man before him, talking he assumes, kind brown eyes crinkling worriedly. His dark brown hair is long enough to brush his shoulders, his very broad shoulders. 

Henry looks at his arms, one silver the other tanned and both perfectly sculpted. 

 

_ You’re being weird… Stop staring at him! _

 

Henry jerks his eyes away and looks down to the floor, studying the black metal flooring, a white eagle inlaid into the floor is the only thing in the middle of the floor. Clearly it had an important meaning. His eyes wander from the eagle to the chairs on the other side of the jet, and slowly slid onto the control boards behind them. 

 

This… might be some sort of special military jet, he doesn’t know much about American government and where they put their money but he doubts this is a standard fighter jet. The hologlass boards are all lit up with information that Henry is certain would be good use in a dogfight. Words scrolling down the glass as fast as you could read it. His attention moved to the ceiling of the quinjet, the structural beams also having compartments for god knew what. Probably parachutes and more guns. The life vests were most likely under the seats.That’s where aircrafts always keep them anyways. 

 

Bored now with his perusal of the aircraft he looks to the front of the plane past Steve and past the other blonde man to the windows, he sees blue skies, deep blue. The occasional small white cloud here and there, and birds under the clouds flying and being carefree. 

 

Henry thinks he’d like to be a bird if it would mean being free. 

 

He also thinks that he might make it if he tries to jump out of the window.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry's no good day continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got caught in one of those tumblr posts where it tells you, "If you're reading this, go write three chapters of your story."  
> ...  
> I felt attacked so I finished a chapter off.

 Henry opens his eyes, not knowing when he had closed them. He looks around in bleary eyed confusion Everyone was where he had last seen them, Steve at the front of the plane, the blonde man with him, Bucky still in the seat next to him.

He must have fallen asleep without meaning to.

He didn't know he could do that anymore.

 He feels a slight twinge in his neck and reaches up to rub at it with his hand which resulted in Bucky looking over at him.

 

“....”

 

Henry understands that Bucky was talking, he could see his lips moving but just like before he could hear nothing.  No, that wasn’t true, he could hear a slight high pitched ringing in his ears almost like he had stood by an area where a bomb had gone off. In actuality he had been near several explosions in the past day alone.  Maybe his ears had just given up on him, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

 Henry sticks a finger in his ear and wriggles it around but still hears nothing but the ringing in his ears so he looks over at Bucky and shrugs.

 

Bucky studies him for a bit then moves his hand to point all around them then points down a few times. He repeats the motion a few times and Henry decides Bucky is trying to tell him the aircraft was about to land. Henry, still buckled in, nods to show he understands and looks around watching Steve come to his seat and strap himself up.

 

Steve looks over to the two of them and starts speaking. Bucky answers him, but Steve doesn’t look satisfied, if anything he looks more worried as he glances at Henry.

 Not knowing what he should do, Henry tentatively gives Steve a double thumbs up and a smile. Steve blinks in surprise and gives a of mildly confused but kind smile in return, he looks as if he wanted to do or say something more but in the end just settles into his seat with another smile.

 Bucky had just told him that the aircraft was about to descend so Henry was prepared for it. What he wasn't prepared for was for the aircraft to start going straight down. He had presumed that this aircraft would've moved more like an airplane. Suddenly more interested again, he begins to catalogue his surroundings.

 

Through the windows at the front of the aircraft, Henry watched as they descend through the clouds, and after quite a bit of staring at blue sky and the occasional bird, he watched as they move slowly past the tops of the trees. Soon after comes the soft thud of landing on the ground. After a short pause Henry watches as Bucky begins to remove his seatbelts, doing the same.

 Henry stands in time to see the back of the aircraft lowering down revealing a sleek building made of wall sized glass windows lined with steel. The yard consists of lush lawn grass circling the helipad, tasteful bushes with flowers scattered around the walkways that lead to the building’s entrance.

 

Henry feels a painful twist in his gut seeing the clean lines and takes a step back. He feels almost as if there was a new fight about to happen, one he is ill prepared for. Muscles tensing, breath picking up, hands into fists, eyes never leaving the _clean perfect_ landscape in front of him-

Without warning the blonde man stomps past Henry and, ignoring the aircraft’s stairs,  jumps straight down to the perfect grass. He starts running straight through the grass dropping his TAC vest, and duffel bag, and yells, “ Thank God! Bathroom!”

 

Henry is so startled to see the slight scuffs and litter on the nice green grass that he almost doesn’t realize he heard the man yell, albeit through the high pitched whine. He also notices the tension from those in the aircraft with him dissipate. Looking toward Bucky he nods apologetically.

 

_Stupid stupid, can’t even look at grass you fu-_

  _Have to scare everyone around you, make them think you’re going to attack them assh-_

  _Goddamnit Henry why can’t you ever do anything ri-_

  _“You. Little. Pussy.”_

 

Henry nods again at Bucky and motions for him to take the lead out of the aircraft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beautiful, charming, delight, light of my life, kinda sorta unofficial beta reader.  
> She stands up to life and all the strange and convoluted sentences I throw at her.  
> Truly a person to be admired.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry shows how well he adapts to new places!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some self harm in this chapter

Henry follows the group as they make their way inside the building, actually staying on the paved walkway. Steve looks at the stuff the blonde man had dropped on the grass and shakes his head in disappointment? amusement?

Steve pulls out a phone and dials a number, speaking into the phone he says, “Hey JARVIS buddy, I need you to do me a favor. Let the others know we’re back and that we need Bruce in the MedBay as soon as he can please.” After a short pause Steve replied to the voice on he other side of the phone, “Not us JARV, someone we picked up at the drop site.”

After thanking the person on the other side of the phone he hangs up and looks back at Henry, “I hope you aren’t going to fight me on this, that open wound in your chest looks bad and I’m not letting you skip out on medical attention. 

Henry didn’t much care either way, soon they would figure out that he wasn’t fully human anymore and all that sweet compassion would go away. If he was lucky they’d disable him then scrap him, if not, well he’s sure he’d gone through testing while he was offline not to much different to be studied while he was still alive. Not like he’d feel the pain or anything, he thinks he’d much rather just be deactivated though. 

They pass the other blonde man and as they enter the building he gives them a friendly nod and a quick smile before heading back to gather his gear. 

"Barton" Steve nods in his direction. 

Henry watches Barton for a moment before turning back to the building. 

The first thing Henry notices inside the building are the windows. Neverending windows spanning from ceiling to floor, windows used as walls, windows used as stairs. There are only a few solid walls in the entirety of the first floor, even the elevator seems to have glass surrounding it.

Henry, though impressed doesn’t see the need for all the transparency, though he figures it doesn’t matter what he thinks. He won’t be around much longer for his opinion to count, not that it would anyways.

He looks around casually as he is brought farther into the building, Bucky right next to him. He wonders if the close proximity is there to comfort him or as a preemptive way to keep him under control. He has no shame in admitting that if he had to fight this man, he would lose, especially if he had his friends helping to take him down. 

_ Actually…. _

_ Maybe he could start a fight, that would be a good way to get them to- _

That thought slides away like water, Henry doesn’t quite care.

His chest is cold, freezing almost; but that isn’t possible because Henry can’t feel things. That’s the way he was built.

Henry blinks as Bucky waves a hand near his face, getting his attention. Looking over he notes the look of concern on Bucky’s face as he looks from Henry’s face to Henry’s chest.

It burns

He looks down and sees his hand grabbing his chest, grabbing through his chest. Under the blanket he grabs the edge of his wound, fingers slipping in and out of his chest cavity. He tries to relax his hand but there is no response, he needs to let go of his chest. He looks up at Bucky but before his eyes make it past Bucky’s chin, Henry cringes away and his eyes skitter back to his chest.

_ What if-? _

Henry has an idea and pulls his hand away. Unfortunately, his fingers don’t come loose as he had hoped and his hand tears his chest just that much more open.

_ IT BURNS- _

Henry doesn’t know if he, the false skin, or Bucky made a noise, but not even a second later there was a set of hands stopping his hand from pulling the skin open more and a second set of hands-  _ Bucky- _ grabbing his arm and wrist. Henry froze, he thinks that he shouldn’t have tried to just rip his hand off his chest but he doesn’t really care. He knows his fingers are poking through the skin now but he doesn’t want to see it, so he doesn’t look.

Looking into Bucky’s face isn’t much better either. He is trying to say something, Henry can tell, but it’s all being drowned out by the high pitch whine in his ears. He shakes his head at the man holding him up, feels his breath picking up and grasps at Bucky’s left shoulder hand scrabbling at the smooth metal. 

_ -can’t think, oh God, I can’t breathe! _

A third person brushes against his right arm and strong hands grab onto his shoulder, there’s a pause as if they are talking above him and then Bucky starts moving them, the person on his right keeping a steadying hold on him somehow keeping them from falling over as Henry himself seems to have lost the ability to walk or _ let go of Bucky _ .

Henry rolls his head to see who the person on his right is and is surprised to see the pilot of the aircraft there and not Steve. The smaller blonde man notices him looking and gives him a sympathetic smile, not quite looking away from the path in front of them.

Bucky seemed to be leading them to a large wall, one of the few that were not made of glass, as they neared a portion of the wall opened and they all gathered into what looked from the inside to be a normal elevator. Steve who was standing closest to the floor choices, pushed a button which glowed a bright blue,the stone door closed immediately and the elevator began to move gently.

Henry’s ears were still ringing, he absently wondered if he was going to hear anything else before he dies. 

Did it even matter if he did?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bruce is introduced and Henry thinks the end is near...

Leaving the elevator, the three men made their way slowly down a long off white hallway. It was colder here than the lobby, goosebumps rising on Henry’s skin. They take a left towards a couple of transparent doors that slide open the closer they get and a wave of smells washes over Henry.

Lemon scented cleaning solutions, the tang of stainless steel and recycled air rest heavily on his tongue as they walk him to a bed, white sheets folded to the bottom of the bed as if someone prepared the bed for a body.

Out of the corner of his eye Henry sees movement, his body jolts harshly to the side pulling against Bucky’s hands to look at the corner of the room. The movement turns out to be an older man with curly brown hair and soft brown eyes.

He is wearing a soft looking, purple sweater and brown slacks. The set of his shoulders slightly slumped as he was tired or not wanting to be noticed. His face like the rest of him is soft, age lines in his face show that he’s had much pain, not many smile lines around his eyes.

The man looks up from the rolling table in surprise, his eyes softening as he sees the panic in Henry’s face. The new man begins to talk, Henry can see his mouth moving but his ears are still not working. Shaking his head in frustration Henry’s grip on Bucky’s metal arm tightens.

Barton who is on his right pats his arm a few times and begins to speak on Henry’s behalf. What he says, who knows but the soft looking man abruptly stops speaking and blink a few times before nodding and walking back to a row of cabinets and picks up a tablet of some kind. He taps it a few times and then hands it over to Bucky with a nod. Bucky smiles at the new man and puts it on Henry’s lap, propping it up with a hand so it’s easier to look at the screen. The man begins to talk again and Henry, momentarily confused, looks to Bucky and notices the tablet writing words out of the corner of his eye.

The tablet reads, “ ** _Hello there, my name is Bruce. I’m here to help you out with your injuries._** ”

Henry surprised looks up to Bruce and lets one hand off of Bucky’s arm to point at the screen, an obvious question in his face. Bruce smiles again and nods his head, when he begins to speak again, Henry watches the screen of the tablet.

“ _ **Yes, the tablet has vocal recognition software that is listening to what I say and displaying it on the screen for you to read.**_ ”

Henry reeled from that, how was that even possible? Well, he supposed if people were able to create mostly machine bodies and bring the human parts back to life then a lot of things must be possible now.

Bruce seemed to be waiting for him to process that information because when Henry nodded at him to continue he finally did.

“ _ **Now I’m going to ask you some questions and I’d like you to answer them to the best of your ability okay?**_ ”

Henry nodded and floundered for a bit because he knew he would not be able to voice his answers.

“ _ **Alright, can you tell me your name?**_ ”

Henry who did have a name but also couldn’t tell anyone anything nodded his head then after a beat shook his head and waved his hand around hopelessly.

Bruce nodded and turned back to the cabinets but this time reaching into a drawer in the counter just under them and pulled out a second tablet which he then gave to Henry telling him to either write or type his responses.

Henry picked the tablet up and very slowly wrote out, “ _ **Henry.**_ ”

He took a breath and let it out slowly, this was the first time he was able to convey his thoughts since he could remember. It felt like it should’ve been a big deal.  

Bruce’s tablet began writing again, “ _ **It’s good to meet you Henry. May I take a look at your chest? Steve says there is something going on with it**_.”

Henry knew that his time was coming to an end, they would soon see all the metal, the pump behind his heart, they would see and want to know more, they would take him apart. All for the best he supposed, not like he asked to be made.

Henry wanted to ask Bucky to shut him down before they took him apart but he didn’t know what words to use _-never needed them before don’t know how to say help please oh god-_  and he knew he was wasting time looking between Bruce and Bucky.

_Oh god, oh god, OHGOD-_

Henry’s free hand shook as he put it to the screen, tapped a few words onto the screen and turned it just a bit so Bucky’s eyes could read it.

“ _ **I don’t want to be awake when you do it.**_ ”

Bucky looked confused, the tablet must’ve had the ability to pick up on his voice as well because it read,  “ _ **You want to be sedated when he looks at your chest?**_ ”

Henry nods and types, “ _ **I don’t want to be awake when you study my parts. I don’t want, I’m scared, I don’t want, I don’t- I can’t**_.” Henry couldn’t find the words to explain and it didn’t much matter because Barton grabbed onto the hand that was typing on the tablet and held it steady.

Looking at the first tablet Henry read, “ _ **Nobody is going to hurt you, you are safe here. Lie down on your back so Bruce can take a look at your injuries, please.**_ ”

What else could Henry do? He took a breath and began to lie down on his back. Both Bucky and Barton helping him down. The tablet they were using to communicate with Henry was moved to a rolling table and propped at an angle so that Henry could still easily see the screen.

He took another steadying breath and resolved himself to endure whatever may happen, then nodded his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! Noticed a small error last chapter so I fixed it up (hopefully) :T


End file.
